Obama's Call for $10 Oil Tax is DOA
President Barack Obama's final budget will propose a $10 per barrel oil tax, investing the proceeds in mass transit, high-speed rail, urban planning, highway upgrades and self-driving cars, among other programmes. "President Obama's 21st Century Clean Transportation System", outlined by the White House to reporters on Thursday, drew predictable praise from environmental groups and howls of outrage from oil producers. But the most important thing to remember about the clean transportation plan is that it stands no chance whatever of becoming law. Raising revenue and spending money are powers reserved to Congress by the U.S.
CA Gasoline Sales Push Oil Demand
Motorists in California purchased more gasoline in October 2014 than any corresponding month since 2007, according to state tax records, confirming the renewed growth in U.S. fuel demand. State gasoline consumption was 2.3 percent higher than in the same month in 2013 and 4.1 percent higher than in 2012, according to the California Board of Equalization, which collects motor vehicle fuel tax in the state. Sales have been growing since June 2013 and the trend is expected to accelerate as motorists respond to the halving of fuel prices by purchasing larger vehicles and driving more.
U.S. Lawmakers Eye Gas Tax Hike
As U.S. gasoline prices plunge to the lowest level in more than five years, some U.S. lawmakers see a golden opportunity to bump up taxes at the pump to help pay for the repair of crumbling roads and bridges. Fuel taxes have been flat for more than 20 years, starving the Highway Trust Fund of revenue used for rising infrastructure repair costs. Lawmakers have fueled the fund with last-minute short-term injections of cash, but want to find a more permanent fix. Last July, before a similar deadline, Republican…
White House Rejects Raising Gasoline Tax for Highway Fund
The White House on Monday rejected a proposal that would hike the gasoline tax in order to prevent the federal Highway Trust Fund from running out of money in August. "That's something that we've said a couple of times that we wouldn't support," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing. Republican Senator Bob Corker and Democrat Chris Murphy last week suggested raising the tax 6 cents a year for two years and linking future fuel tax increases to inflation as ways to replenish the fund, which pays for about half of the country's transportation projects.
US Senate Wants to Hike Gasoline Tax
U.S. Two U.S. senators on Wednesday said they want to raise the federal gasoline and diesel tax by 12 cents a gallon to prevent a fund that pays for about half of the country's transportation projects from running out of money in August. Republican Senator Bob Corker and Democrat Chris Murphy called for raising the tax 6 cents a year for two years and linking future fuel tax increases to inflation. The gasoline tax is now 18.4 cents a gallon, and the diesel tax is 24.4 cents a gallon. The tax has not been increased since 1993, and hiking taxes is politically unpopular ahead of midterm elections in November.
